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Savannah J. Sanders

Savannah J. Sanders is a leading advocate in the effort to stop human trafficking in the United States. She has been involved in anti-trafficking training in Arizona and nationwide since 2010, along with trauma-informed care and survivor leadership.

After overcoming devastating hardships in her youth (including child sex trafficking), Savannah is now living a full life as a victim’s advocate, exemplifying survivor leadership both personally and professionally.

Savannah earned her undergraduate degree from Arizona State University (ASU) with a Major in Social Work and Minor in Women and Gender Studies in 2014 and is pursuing concurrent Master’s Degrees in Social Work and Social and Cultural Pedagogy at ASU in the near future.

As an active member of a large network of human trafficking survivor advocates, Savannah shares her compelling story of abuse and recovery as a source of inspiration and motivation for audiences across the United States, providing testimony on Emmy-nominated television news segments, in sex trade documentaries, at local events, and on talk radio.

Sanders shares her compelling story of abuse and recovery from trafficking as a source of inspiration and motivation for audiences across the United States. She has provided testimony on Emmy-nominated television news segments, in sex trade documentaries, at local events and on talk radio. She resides in Arizona with her husband and children.

She previously worked with The O’Connor House, (an organization committed to continuing Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s lifetime work of solving important social, economic and political problems through civil talk leading to civic action) and she is involved in several non-profit organizations, including Well Founded Hope, Mending the Soul, and a large network of survivor advocates.

There is a video that went viral on Facebook titled The Dangers Of Social Media (Child Predator Social Experiment). Watching it hits you right in the feels, especially if you’re a parent. The video shows a guy pretending to be a 15-year-old boy on social media who lures three girls from different families to meet with him. It turns out he is not a 15-year-old boy and he gets the surprise of his life to find the parents waiting for him along with their daughters.

Savannah Sanders’s first encounter with sex trafficking at the age of 16 was as a victim. But during the years since, she has tackled this shockingly prevalent problem as an educator, a mentor, a social work student and most recently an author. Her debut book “Sex Trafficking Prevention: A Trauma-Informed Approach for Parents and Professionals,” to be published by Unhooked Books on September 1, weaves her plight together with research on the U.S. sex trade and advice for everyday people to minimize children’s vulnerability.

I was what gets judged in our society. I was the homeless girl wandering the streets. I was the addict “sucking off the system.” I was the prostitute, the attention whore, the girl with no teeth, the chick falling asleep on public transportation, the lady who forgot her kid in the car, the run away, the cutter, the smelly one, and the list goes on.